Early Response to 2nd Presidential Debate

Ezra Klein of The American Prospect makes some telling observations of tonight's town-hall format debate in Nashville between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Tonight, even though McCain made no major mistakes, the debate was clearly Obama's. And not only on the merits, though I thought this Obama's best outing on the substance. Rather, it was the visual contrast that proved striking. The constant movement required by the format left McCain looking old and slow and tired. It's not his fault. He moves like a 72-year-old man because he is a 72-year-old man. But that fact was emphasized this evening, and not to McCain's advantage. He had to stand on the stage with Obama, whose physical presence was more confident, more energetic, more commanding. My sense is that the quiet impressions of this encounter will linger.

The insta-poll results seem to agree:

CNN: Obama 54%, McCain 30%
CBS: Obama 39%, McCain 27%

--Ballard Burgher